PROVIDENCE -- Volunteers will be hard at work this spring building trails on nearby Saratoga County forestland that will connect to existing trails on the adjacent Hennig Preserve.

When completed, there will be nine miles of public trails for year-round recreational use.

The 604-acre Hennig Preserve on Centerline Road was donated by visionaries Bob Hennig, Barbara Hennig and Penny Steffen to Saratoga P.L.A.N. (Preserving Land and Nature) last year.

Last year, P.L.A.N. volunteers designed, mapped and built six miles of winding trails there along a natural esker, a pond and a Civil War-era house foundation.

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When that job was done, they approached county officials about connecting Hennig Preserve trails to the 400-acre county property. Work took place during the fall, with nearly three miles of additional trails nearly completed. It is scheduled for completion this spring.

Together, the county and Hennig Preserve properties cover more than 1,000 acres.

"There was no way that the county would have been able to undertake this project in the near future," county Planning Director Jason Kemper said. "These volunteers have accomplished an extraordinary amount of work and are acting as stewards not only of P.L.A.N.'s Hennig Preserve, but of our county forestlands."

A group of about 25 volunteers worked on the latest effort, led by P.L.A.N. Stewardship Director Andy Fyfe and volunteer trail guru Walt Hayes.

"Partnerships like Saratoga P.L.A.N.'s are critical as the county expands its trail system for a variety of groups -- equine, hiking, cross country skiing and snowmobiles," Stillwater Supervisor Ed Kinowski, who chairs the county Trails Committee, said. "P.L.A.N. assists towns not only with grant applications, but in the management of those grants, trail and farmland protection initiatives."

However, horses and snowmobiles are limited to county lands only. They are not allowed on the Hennig Preserve.

The preserve is open to the public from dawn until dusk year-round. Trail maps and directions are available at www.saratogaplan.org.

P.L.A.N. is a not-for-profit land trust offering comprehensive land conservation services to landowners, developers, organizations and government partners while striving to achieve regional coordination and cooperation on land use, conservation and recreational trail planning.

For information on land conservation or directions and trail maps for public preserves, call (518)